Finding Yourself
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Hidalgo besides a copy of the movie, a Breyer, and a Breyer stuffie. So no suing!
Chapter Three: Runaway
Late one night, Kaitlin snuck out of the house to go to the paddock. She was dressed in some old clothes that had once been her father's but she had altered them to fit her. She quickly and quietly tacked Zodiac up and then rode out into the night. In her saddlebags was $1,000 in Spanish silver along with money to pay for passage to Arabia along with money for other things. She was going to head for a boat to Arabia so that she could run in the Ocean of Fire. She had it all planned out.
When Frank Hopkins awoke the next morning to find his daughter and her horse missing, he panicked. Then he found some clues in the house. Kaitlin had left a note saying not to worry, and that she'd be back soon. But he also found papers that mentioned a boat to Arabia and the Ocean of Fire. Frank suddenly knew what his daughter was going to do. Kaitlin was going to enter the Ocean of Fire race on Zodiac. And he had to stop her.
There was almost no way that Kaitlin could survive that race. He had had a horrible time with it himself and he was used to running endurance races. Kaitlin was not. She had never in her whole life run an endurance race on horseback. She wouldn't be able to survive. She would perish within days of the start of the race. And he couldn't allow that to happen to her.
Frank quickly gathered some belonging and told Jazira what was going on before he went to saddle up his horse. Jazira insisted upon coming with him to the boat and went to grab some stuff for herself. Once outside, Frank called for his horse with a whistle. Hoofbeats were heard as a horse galloped up to Frank.
"How you doing, brother?" Frank asked, as he patted the painted stallion on the neck.
"What on earth was I thinkin'?" Kaitlin asked herself as she rode to the ship, which would take her to Arabia. "What was I thinkin'?"
Kaitlin looked down at Zodiac. What had she gotten herself into? Who was she, thinking that she could possibly do an endurance race let alone the Ocean of Fire? She was Kaitlin Hopkins, Frank Hopkins' daughter. But did that mean that she could actually do the race?
Frank patted his horse and talked to it for several minutes. It had been a while since he'd seen Hidalgo and he'd missed his horse.
"Do you think we've got one more in us? You think we can do the Ocean of Fire again, brother?" Frank asked.
The horse snorted and tossed his head.
"That's what I thought. We're two old, washed up, has-beens. We couldn't possibly tackle the Ocean of Fire, now could we?"
The horse snorted once more.
"I guess, I'll take someone else then and leave you be…" said Frank, turning around to head to the pasture.
The horse nickered and pulled Frank's shirt, stopping Frank.
"So you want to come with? You want to try it again?"
Another nicker.
"Okay, you win brother," Frank said as saddled up Hidalgo once more.
Author's Notes:
I'll try to post some more tomorrow. Like my other story, I'll keep track of updates and such on my author's page in case you want to know more about what's coming up next.